Bjarne Skounborg (b. 1971), born Peter Kenneth Bostrøm Lundin and more commonly known as Peter Lundin, is a Danish convicted murderer.

Early life

Peter Lundin was born in Denmark in 1971; his family migrated to the United States when he was seven years old.

First conviction

In April 1991, Lundin strangled his mother to death in Maggie Valley, North Carolina, and with the help of his father, he buried her body on a beach at Cape Hatteras, where it was found eight months later. In 1992, Lundin was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment for the murder; his father, Ole Lundin, was sentenced to two years as an accomplice.

While serving this sentence, Peter Lundin was interviewed by Danish television in 1994, with his face painted partially black and quoting a poem on the "light and dark sides of life". In relation to this interview, a renowned Swedish psychologist, Sten Levander, awarded Lundin 39 points (of a possible 40) on the Psychopathy Checklist.

In 1999, Lundin was released from prison for capacity reasons and deported to Denmark.

Second conviction

After returning to Denmark, Lundin moved in with his wife in Måløv, but she kicked him out because he was violent with her. He met a woman called Marianne Pedersen, who worked in a brothel. Pedersen and her two sons, who were living in Rødovre near Copenhagen, were later declared missing, and Lundin claimed that they had left on vacation and he had agreed to paint their house. Police discovered blood traces in Pedersen's car and the basement of her house, leading to Lundin's arrest. Further examinations of the house led to the conclusion that Pedersen and her sons had been killed and dismembered. The detective in charge of the investigation, Niels Kjøller of the Hvidovre Police Department, described the basement and garage of the house as resembling "slaughterhouses", despite Lundin's attempts to clean the crime scene. Discovery of human tissue revealed that Lundin had used an angle grinder, and more than 100 visible markings in the floors revealed that he had also used an axe.

Three weeks later, Lundin changed his statement, claiming he heard screaming on the night of the crime and discovered that Pedersen had killed her sons. He found her passed out on drugs and fatally hit her, after which he dismembered the bodies. He claimed to have withheld this information because he knew the police wouldn't believe him because of his criminal past. On October 10, 2000, Lundin again changed his statement, this time admitting to the murders. He admitted to first killing Pedersen because she had been "talking sweetly" to a man on the telephone, on the night between June 16–17, 2000, then killing her sons. All three died of broken necks.

In 2001, a jury sentenced Lundin to life imprisonment for the crime. In spite of extensive searches, the dismembered bodies have never been found. Lundin's father, Ole, was sentenced to four months in prison for theft of items owned by Pedersen. Peter Lundin was found not to be insane. He initially served his sentence in the Herstedvester prison in Albertslund near Copenhagen, but was later transferred to a new prison near Horsens.

Personal life

Incarcerated marriage

Following the program on TV 2 in 1994, many women contacted Peter Lundin, and he married one of these, named Tina, while still serving in his US prison. On September 29, 2008, it was reported that Peter Lundin had again been married while incarcerated (this time for the Pedersen murders).

After just 11 days, the woman filed for divorce, not because of his criminal past, but because she claimed he had lied to her about another woman who turned out to be his girlfriend at the time of the wedding.

Violence against Peter Lundin

On July 27, 2000, i.e. before Lundin was sentenced for the murders, several inmates in the Vridsløselille prison assaulted Peter Lundin, supposedly because they were angry with his part in the murder of children.

Lawsuit against journalist

A journalist on the Danish newspaper Information called Peter Lundin a psychopath by writing the sentence We are, basically, not clinical psychopaths in the Peter Lundin category ( ) in an editorial not otherwise about Peter Lundin. This prompted Lundin to file a lawsuit. The lawsuit was settled in a court of law, clearing the journalist of charges with the explanation that the sentence should be taken as a statement that the plaintiff is a clear-cut example of a psychopath in the sense of a deviating person ( ).

Lawsuit against Pia Kjærsgaard

In November 2008, leader of the Danish People's Party, Pia Kjærsgaard, called Peter Lundin callous in a program on TV 2, which prompted Lundin to file a lawsuit against her demanding 100,000 kroner in compensation.

Name change

While incarcerated for the murders committed in Denmark, Peter Lundin changed his name to Bjarne Skounborg.

Media

The publishing house of Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet announced plans in 2001 to cooperate with Lundin to write a book about him, which sparked a lot of debate. The plans, however, were dropped shortly after the announcement on grounds that the book would not contain enough "news and quality content".

In 2003, the book Sagen Lundin. Forbrydelsen, opklaringen, medierne og ondskaben (The Lundin Case. The crime, the investigation, the media, and the evil) by Palle Bruus Jensen was released, including analyses by psychiatrist Henrik Day Poulsen.

Public opinion

Peter Lundin has received much attention in the Danish public; for instance, a Facebook group called Lundin - should not be released ( ) has more than 30,000 members.

Notes